Daughter of former Blockbuster CEO joins BlockbusterDAO’s core team

Entrepreneur and fitness club owner Michelle Berrard has joined the core team of BlockbusterDAO, an ambitious crypto project that’s looking to buy the ailing movie rental company in the hope of reviving it.

Only Berrard has a much closer relationship with Blockbuster than most. Her late father, Steven Berrard, helped build and run the company between 1987 and 1996. He started as COO before becoming CEO in 1994, per Bloomberg.

“The BlockbusterDAO project is so exciting because movies, independent films, (and Blockbuster) live in the hearts of everyone. It’s personal, heartfelt, nostalgic, and a legacy for me!” she wrote in her announcement message, shared with the project’s Discord channel.

BlockbusterDAO’s plan is to raise $5 million by selling NFTs and using those funds to buy the company. It then intends to turn it into a streaming service, to try to compete with Netflix. It’s a plan that builds on the near success of ConstitutionDAO, which raised $47 million to try to buy an early copy of the US Constitution — but was outbid at the last minute by Citadel CEO Ken Griffin.

After spending five years at Walt Disney, Berrard had an eight year stint at hygiene solutions company Swisher, working in operations. She then became a personal trainer and shortly after set up her own fitness brand, called Pivotal Fitness. The company now looks after four fitness studios.

“It is an honor to be part of a team that is paving the way to reset an industry and make history just like the Blockbuster brand did once before! Now it’s our time to bring Blockbuster back to the people!” she added.